A Loud, Wonderful Weekend

This past weekend our best friend Jeff, who is pretty much an adopted family member to us, came to visit with his family.  Jason had seen him fairly recently, when he was in California on business, but I hadn't seen him and his family for 2 years!  So this was a big deal! 

I was excited to see how all the kids (Jeff and Alex have 3 children) would get along.  Sims is only a couple of months older than their youngest, so I figured that he would definitely enjoy the company.  I totally underestimated the amount of fun that the kids were going to have!

We spent Saturday afternoon at the park, where they had fun kicking the balls around, 

blowing bubbles,

taking pictures,

Camera lessons

Taking photos of the leaves

and observing nature.

The non-venomous snake we saw.  We also saw a copperhead.

Watching the snakes

Picking up the toad

Our friends Justin and Lori joined us for dinner at our house with their little girl.  The 5 kids ran around the house screaming and having the best time!  Our house has never been that loud, and it was fantastic!

After such a wild day on Saturday, we took it easy on Sunday and just hung out at the house, instead of going out in the rain and cold.  I just can't believe how well the kids took to each other.  They are definitely going to have a blast this Sunday, when we go to Winston-Salem to visit them at Jeff's parents' house.  We can't wait!

One of my favorite memories of this weekend was of the kids pretending that a bear was coming.  Nikolas walked in the room, and Sims pointed at him and said, "A bear!"  Nikolas immediately put up his "paws" and growled.  The younger ones loved it.  Later the young ones were coming around the corner to the kitchen, and Nikolas saw them and did his bear growl.  The ecstatic scream that was heard as the kids ran back to Sims' room was hilarious.

I hope that we get to see Jeff, Alex and the family more often.  (I promise we'll make it to SoCal soon!)  I would love for the kids to grow up with great memories of being together.  Perhaps even joint family vacations?  I'm already coming up with vacation ideas...